Jennifer Balkan is making figurative art cool, finding the end place via the abstract and the realist.
data-param-cid="62cec241-7d09-4462-afc2-f72f8d8ef40a"
data-player-id="44f947fb-a5ce-41f1-a4fc-78dcf31c262a"
data-playlist-id=cce06289-75b9-40f5-8676-50e517ab7eb5
data-elements-player="true"
layout="responsive"
width="16"
height="9"
>
Felicity Carter: What is your first memory of art?
Jennifer Balkan: I remember gazing at the sunset seascape that my grandmother painted which hung in her den. It is something I grew up staring at. But I always drew. As an elementary schooler, I preferred to illustrate my book report covers to actually writing the reports.
FC: Tell us about your background and how you became an artist…
JB: I’ve drawn and doodled all my life but didn’t set out to be an “artist” until my adult life. My studies in college were in biological psychology or behavioral neuroscience. In college, I took a studio art class and one in art history. Though I adored these classes and put all of myself into the studio art class, I didn’t know that I could pursue that further. My interest in social psychology led me to graduate school which culminated in conducting research in anthropological sociology in Mexico. Though I had an incredible experience there, upon returning home, I felt a void. I finished my degree and went on to work in a related field. It wasn’t until I traveled solo on a trip through Spain, France, and Italy that I realized I truly wanted to pursue painting. And there my painting journey began. Over the years, I patched together classes in painting and learned to paint from observation. I felt something I had never felt before — true passion and commitment. I had begun to paint and have never stopped.
FC: Which artists past or present have had an impact on you?
JB: The artists who have had the greatest impact on what I do include Euan Uglow, Lucian Freud, Wayne Thiebaud, Jenny Saville, and Oscar Kokochka. I consider these painters to be expressive realists. There are so many incredible painters working today. I see outstanding work in my social media feeds daily and I am influenced and inspired. It is a rich world of art-making we are living in.
FC: How would you sum up your aesthetic?
JB: I consider myself to be a contemporary realist which I realize is a very broad term. I seek abstraction within the representation. I am a figurative painter. My approach to painting what I see and creating likeness is through applying what is known as broken color. I am essentially inviting the viewer to optically mix the colors. This is such an exciting method for me. It’s a bit like putting together a puzzle. Each little puzzle piece cannot stand alone yet each one has its own weight; but together combined, they make a picture/whole. And that whole is greater than the sum of its parts. And I find that thinking about strokes like this as I carefully lay down each one enables me to get at the layering of our skin, metaphorically and physically.
FC: What do you look to communicate through your work?
JB: I sculpt in paint. I want to evoke emotion in paint. I want to tell a visual story where the details lie in planes of color. I want the work to breathe, to have character. I hope the viewer takes something away and thinks — maybe smiles, maybe grimaces, ponders — feels it in the head and heart.
FC: How your style evolved?
JB: I feel like I am painting in the way I have strived to paint for some time. I finally feel confident and competent in how I am laying the paint down. This took me time and work. I set out to do this years ago and through tons of study and hard work and finally feel like I’m painting the way I want to paint (I think!!!). So I’m still aesthetically the same I think but just feel stronger than I was years ago. My palette is richly chromatic yet controlled, way more controlled than when I used a broader palette. I currently have a much greater understanding of color harmony and paint mixing than I did years ago. As a result, there is visual logic to what I do. I hope to continue to grow. The beautiful thing about this profession is that unlike a professional athlete, I can continue to learn and grow until I keel over.
FC: What’s the best piece of advice that you’ve been given when handling the art world?
JB: Paint what moves and inspires you. And do the best darn job you can do! What matters most is the quality — the subject is secondary. Don’t ever worry about what you think people want. And do not ever feel pressured to paint what you expect to sell! When a gallery says to you “well, the paintings that you were painting two years ago sold so it would be great if you could do more like those,” say goodbye. Obliging to that will kill your soul. Yes, we need to eat! BUT you can figure out how to get your bread and butter AND be true to yourself. If I had kept painting my most easily sellable paintings, I would have quit by now. I need to continue to challenge myself and try new things to stay inspired.
See more from the artist at jenniferbalkan.com.